COMPANIES

Bank of America settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission over admitting that it failed to inform investors during the financial crisis about known uncertainties to future income from its exposure to repurchase claims on mortgage loans.

Fuel distributor Caltex continued to downsize its Australian operations, announcing on Monday that it will further cut 10 per cent of its work force in the next 12 months. The 10 per cent is equal to 350 jobs that will be shed as part of Caltex's restructuring.

Telco giant AT&T is offering to Cupertino, California residents an enviable 1 gigabit per second download speed.

American technology company Symantec will showcase a major change on Sept. 23 with the introduction of Norton Security. Norton Security will replace nine of the company's current security products, and it will be offered as a subscription service.

Ford has revealed more details about the upcoming Ford Falcon According that will have the 000 technology which can, in fact, save lives.

Apple stock has finally reached the $100 mark since the CEO Tim Cook announced a stock split last June. Morgan Stanley remains bullish on AAPL shares as analysts advise investors that now is a good time to buy shares.

Vodafone Hutchison Australia will buy from Ericsson millions of dollars worth of equipment as the giant telco builds a new core network as it moves toward the creation of the country's newest mobile service.

Due to the sheer size of the initial public offering (IPO) of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding (BABA) in New York in September, other companies planning public listing had postponed their launches.

More small business owners n the US claim that their present financial situation has improved but remains negative on their prospect for 2015. This was the finding of the latest Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index which found that the overall Small Business Index score increased slightly to positive 49 (+49) in July.

Justin Bieber's misbehaving ways continue to haunt the Canadian singer. On Tuesday, shareprices of scent maker Elizabeth Arden tumbled down 24 per cent for its fourth quarter, while sales plummeted 28.4 per cent from the past 12 months to $191.7 million.

Coca-Cola is a drink that anyone can not resist, not knowing its effects on health. It is a challenge for parents to let their children minimize drinking it.

The impending release of the iPhone 6 has caused the popularity of Apple's stock to surge as closely watched hedge funds managers "feasted" on the stock. According to Forbes, analysts had observed an increase in the demand for Apple stock.

BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP) will open a new spin-off company worth $15 billion, with headquarters in Perth. It would be one of the largest publicly listed companies in the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) based in Perth according to market capitalisation.

While competitor telcos in the Australian market Optus and Vodafone have suffered hemorrhages in customer numbers, it is the other way for Telstra which reported on Thursday, Aug 14, the addition of one million new subscribers in the past 12 months.

While China has surpassed Canada in terms of sales volume, Canada remains the United States real estate market's top foreign buyer, the National Association of Realtors reported in its 2014 Profile of International Home Buying Activity.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is about to make stock market history when it publicly lists in September in New York and raise about $20 billion, expected to be the largest in IPO history.

British Telecom is preparing to place pressure on Vodafone to reduce its tariffs as competition in the 4G mobile broadband becomes tighter.

A 3,000-kilometre trans-Pacific cable network aims to link the U.S. and Japan. Named FASTER, the cable network would be cost $300 million and would be funded by Google and five Asian telecom and communications companies, reports NDTV.

Hispanic investors have a strong appetite for financial education and more sophisticated investment knowledge, according to a recent Wells Fargo survey. A significant 45 per cent of surveyed Hispanics claim they did not received any education on how to save and invest (versus 31 per cent of U.S. investors overall), and three out of four (76 per cent) wish they had learned more about managing money when they were growing up (compared to 61 per cent of U.S. investors overall).

The law firm Maurice Blackburn filed on Tuesday a new class action suit before the New South Wales Supreme Court against ANZ, Citibank and Westpac over credit card late fees.

Mazda MX-5s limited edition 40 cars are now open for sale in Australia.

The smartphone market is being shaken up as the tech giants' dominant positions are challenged by Chinese phonemakers that offer lower-cost handsets. With cheaper units that offer similar features to the pricier iPhone of Apple and Galaxy Android units of Samsung, companies like Lenovo and Xiaomi are grabbing a bigger share of the smartphone market.

Entertainment website BuzzFeed got $50 million more for its future plan to become one of the major media companies.

U.S. luxury retail mall chains Nordstrom Inc. and Saks Fifth Avenue are cornering a piece of Canada's prime real estate for expansion, according to a report on The Financial Post.

Only a small proportion of fund managers active in infrastructure and real estate think that AIFMD regulations will have a positive impact on their firm and industry, following a recent survey of over 140 managers active in the asset classes.

Telecom giant Telstra opened a data centre at the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) that would connect financial centres. The Australian Liquidity Centre (ALC) was built mainly to make available fast and reliable connectivity to other major financial centres.

A report has recently circulated that China has banned the use of Apple devices such as iPads and Macbooks in government. The Chinese government has allegedly excluded Apple from its list of authorised products for official use due to security concerns. In a Bloomberg report, government officials who requested not to be identified, said China has discontinued the procurement of ten Apple products. The items have been removed from a list distributed in July.

Amaysim, a budget mobile phone operator in Australia, is challenging Virgin, the fourth top carrier in Australia, by rolling out a new low-cost data plan that offers 5GB for $44.90 a month.

Malaysia Airline System suspended on Friday the trading of the company's shares on the Malaysian Stock Exchange as part of the restructuring plan of the air carrier that was financially hit by two air tragedies in March and July 2014.